Courses - Madrid, Spain

RESIDENT DIRECTOR for entire 4-week program:   Prof. Rocío Álvarez Aguayo, Madrid, Spain

WEEK 1:  June 2-5, 2025
INSTRUCTOR:   Roy Balleste, Professor of Law, Director of International Initiatives, and Director of the Dolly & Homer Hand Law Library, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida

CYBERLAW  (1 credit)
This course introduces the competencies needed to understand a broad spectrum of cybersecurity law concepts, including the key policy aspects and the wide range of legal authorities.  It introduces technical terms and standards.  The course also addresses the risk management methodologies for assuring any organization's confidentiality, integrity, availability, and authentication.  This course also explores network security, threats, vulnerabilities, and risks and analyzes major challenges in cyberspace, ascertaining constraints and countermeasures in dealing with threats in offensive and defensive cyber operations.  The role of nation-states will be discussed again the backdrop of global geopolitics.

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this course, participants should be able to identify potential solutions and offer informed opinions.  Participants will:

  • Identify the defining key policy aspects;
  • Identify legal sources and factors;
  • Identify threats to online security;
  • Understand the broad spectrum of legal authorities;
  • Identify standards that apply to the information technology profession;
  • Understand cybersecurity concepts affecting information technology;
  • Understand the use of the CIA Triad.

WEEK 2:  June 9-12, 2025
INSTRUCTOR:   Adam Dubin, Assistant Professor of Law, Universidad Pontificia Comillas and Adjunct Professor of Law, New York University (Madrid Campus), Madrid, Spain

FREEDOM, EQUALITY, AND CHOICE:  HUMAN RIGHTS ACROSS THE ATLANTIC  (1 credit)
This course is a comparative analysis of human rights between European countries and the United States of America. We will focus on how human rights norms are applied and interpreted differently between these two regions. To this end, we will analyze the jurisprudence of the United States Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights, with the aim of exploring larger questions concerning how these Courts´ interpretation and application reflect cultural and historical questions common to European countries and the U.S.

The course will begin with an introduction to the European Court of Human Rights, and then we will analyze four rights topics: freedom of expression, sexual orientation and gender identity, reproductive rights and race, policing and discrimination. For each of these topics, we will look at comparable jurisprudence of the European Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to identify often divergent approaches and interpretations of these rights. We will then discuss these cases within the broader context of how socio-historical factors (particularly in Europe) influence judicial interpretation of these rights.  We will try to coordinate a visit to the Spanish Supreme Court, where students can meet with a Magistrate and discuss rights issues from a Spanish context.

WEEK 3:  June 16-19, 2025
INSTRUCTOR:   Melanie Regis, Assistant Professor of Law and Co-Director, Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession, Charleston School of Law, Charleston, South Carolina

THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT-COMPARING THE USE OF CONFESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN    (1 credit)
The goal of this weeklong course is to have students understand the fundamentals regarding confessions and self-incrimination in the United States and then compare those protections to guarantees under the Spanish Constitution and international human rights conventions.  The course will begin with discussions on the due process voluntariness doctrine in the United States, and cases involving use of both psychological and physical torture to obtain confessions, including Spano v. New York and Brown v. Mississippi.  The course will then shift to the groundbreaking case of Miranda v. Arizona in the United States and subsequent cases clarifying the circumstances in which Miranda can be invoked and waived.  The course will address the Spanish Constitution and international human rights conventions and confessions. The course will wrap up with a discussion on interrogation techniques used in both the United States and Europe in addition to reforms to prevent false confessions.  Students will read excerpts from law review articles, news articles and other sources, including short video clips to reinforce the material the students are reading.

WEEK 4:  June 23-26, 2025
INSTRUCTOR:   Joseph F. Morrissey, Professor of Law and Leroy Highbaugh Sr. Research Chair, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida

INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL LAW   (1 credit)
This class provides intensive exposure to the law governing international sales transactions, the CISG, as well as an introduction to international commercial arbitration. The CISG governs the substantive law that applies by default to transnational sales of goods when the parties involved are from any of the 97 signatory nations, including the Netherlands and most other Western European nations (but, interestingly, excluding the UK). This class is essential for anyone hoping to become involved with international trade or dispute resolution.